


Spring Days

by alexpenkala



Series: Toccoa Street [2]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 20:23:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13395555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexpenkala/pseuds/alexpenkala
Summary: Skip and Penkala spend Spring Break surrounded by dogs and their friends.





	Spring Days

Penkala clutched an iced coffee as there was a horrendous heat wave in the middle of March. He was on his way to pick up Grant and Tab’s dogs. Skip and him agreed to watch the three dogs while they were on vacation for their six month anniversary.  He loved the dogs since they were at the coffee shop a lot. He and Frannie were attached at the hip when she was at the store. Skip loved any and all dogs so he had not stopped talking about this since he had found out about it.

He knocked on the quaint little craftsman that Tab and Grant shared. They moved in together a few months ago and now all the dogs were at the coffee shop. Which made all the baristas day so much better. Tab answered the door in a horrendous outfit of cutoffs and a Hawaiian print button up. 

“Hey, Alex you came at the right time. I just got the dogs to settle down after they were terrorizing Chuck for food. Which was a sight to see since he had not gotten coffee yet.” Tab told him as they walked to the couch where all the dogs were sleeping. 

They looked the picture of innocence which was a lie. The only dog that could be considered a little bit innocent was Frannie she was a darling dog who had been through a lot in her short life. She must have sensed he was there and he knelt down to let her jump into his arms. He had an armful of a small dog who started to lick the side of his face in excitement. He cradled her in his arms and she rested her head on his right shoulder. He saw Grant coming in wearing old gym shorts and a ratty t-shirt. He looked tired but he perked up when he saw Penkala.

“Alex you are here. Frannie is excited to see you as usual. I swear you are her other favorite person in the world. I will miss this lot of troublemakers but a tropical vacation is definitely needed. All I want is the coffee shop to be in one piece by the time we get back.”

Penkala laughed at that Lipton and Smokey had their hands full with the whole of rowdy bunch of college kids. Even though Malarkey was the oldest at twenty-four he was equally as bad as him and Skip with pranking people. Alley was the only one not prone to pranking people and they never pranked him. Grant was not amused half the time when the pranks got out of hand.

He roused the other two dogs and with Tab’s help got them into his car. There were a few beds, food, and other necessities. After a bunch of hugs and promises, he was off to get them home to Skip. When he got in the car he checked and saw he had a message from Skip apparently Malarkey was over with Maggie who he was babysitting while his boyfriend dealt with business meetings. Dogs and kids were going to equal a loud townhouse.

The drive took a few minutes and he saw Skip and Malarkey standing with an excited Maggie in his arms. He pulled up and made sure all the dogs had leashes on. Skip met him and gave him a kiss. He helped him get the dogs out while Malarkey helped with some of the bags. Maggie insisted on carrying some of the smaller bags which made him laugh.

Maggie was a darling kid who he loved a lot.  With Malarkey dating More he saw a lot of the little one. Skip was always excited when she came to visit and so was Penkala. He was also excited to have dogs over too. Basically, Skip was going to be a real happy camper this week. He got to hang out with all their friends, him, dogs, and sweet Maggie. Also, a plus was the coffee shop was running on short hours with Grant gone.

They managed to get all the dogs and kids inside without any trouble or mishaps. Trigger was a disaster of a dog who was prone to troublemaking and Draftee was an angel compared to him. And then there was Frannie who just wanted cuddles and naps. Draftee went and slept on the back of the couch. Trigger went on an exploratory mission of his new home sticking his head under a pile of pillows. Malarkey laughed at it and Maggie joined in too.

“Well, at least we will know where two of the dogs will be for the rest of the week. Frannie seems to be indecisive about what she wants.” Skip commented from the kitchen as he set up the food and water. Which lured Frannie out of the throw blanket she had made into a nest.

She seemed to be unsure of his boyfriend and he watched as Skip sat down on the tile floor trying to make her feel safe. Unlike the previous times, she actually got near enough to let Skip pet her. He even got to pick her up and that drew out a large smile on his face. Skip gave her a kiss on the top of the head and rubbed her ears. Penkala got out his phone and took a picture this was too cute of the moment to pass up one.

It was probably his favorite photo of Skip he had his face half hidden by the dog and had the little dog curled up into his arms. He smiled at it and decided to post it on Instagram wanting to share the cuteness. Frannie had calmed down a lot and she went to get food. Finally, her and Skip had come to terms with each other.

After the dogs got settled in it was time for lunch and to get Maggie back to More now the meetings were wrapped up. The trio agreed the dinner was a good idea then the ice cream parlor downtown. The heat wave was getting to all of them and ice cream would help with that. Maggie had her lunch and the four of them were off. More was waiting outside the bookstore looking uncomfortable as hell in khakis and a button up. A smile lighting up his face when he saw Maggie toddling holding Malarky’s hand. It was obvious he loved both of them so much. 

Skip held his hand while they waited for Malarkey and More to finish up talking. They were one of the couples who were not very handsy in public but were very affectionate towards each other. Which was the opposite of him and Skip who both handsy and affection. This more a catch up for the pair whose led a busy life.

The couple watched Malarkey kiss More and then hug Maggie before he walked over to the pair. “ We still going to the diner for lunch? I am starving and need some ice tea it is so hot.” 

Skip laughed at the complaint about the weather, “ Your more worried about being hot then the fact your freckled, ginger self will burn when your not in the shade.”

Malarkey glared at Skip while Penkala tried not to laugh at the pair. Skip had a point Malarkey wore a tank top which exposed all his freckles and tattoos to the harsh sun and cut off shorts. He could get away with the tank tops same with Skip, unlike Malarkey who burned not tanned.

“I am going to agree with my boyfriend you do burn pretty easily.  Now let’s get to the diner so Skip does not die of hunger.” Penkala told Malarkey who was shooting him a look.

They piled into Skip’s car and went to the diner which was heavily air-conditioned. That got a sigh of relief from all three of them. Especially Malarkey who was not yet used to Georgia’s hot and swampy weather. They got iced tea and a large order of fried pickles which was probably not the best idea.

Skip and Malarkey ended up annoying the shit out of each other while shooting spitballs out of a straw. He shook his head and drank his ice tea praying neither of them would hit him with it. He spoke too soon when Skip started giggling and glancing at his unruly mess of curls. Penkala sighed and shook his head to get the spitball out. Sometimes he figured his boyfriend was like a child with his antics. Malarkey was usually not this much of shit but the heat must be getting to him.

“ Sorry Penk did not mean to encourage his bad manners the heats getting to me,” Malarkey told him from where he was getting a knuckle sandwich from Skip and trying to ward him off.

He laughed at the pair who were having fun, “ My dude it is all good I was just waiting for it to happen. I figured I was next to get in on the fun that is how it works.” 

Skip smiled at him and reached across to give a kiss. They smiled and leaned into the kiss, even more, when Malarkey made a gagging noise. Malarkey had no room to talk when he and More had an epic make-out session in the back of Liebgott’s bar and got caught by Skinny. No one was ever going to let him live that down.

The food came and all three of them cut back on the shenanigans and went to town on their food. The heat made them hangry especially Skip. He did not mind the heat but he would rather be in cooler weather. They all shared two large orders of fries and two large orders of onion rings. 

“Do you guys want to the spring-fed wading pool wading pool tomorrow at 10 am? More and I are taking Maggie. He wanted to know if you too wanted to come along with the dogs.” Malarkey asked the pair as he finished his patty melt.

Skip nodded, “ That sounds like a fun day we had nothing planned so we will be there. We will bring food and drinks too.”

Penkala could not wait for tomorrow the wading pool was cold and so much fun, especially during this shitty heat wave. The heat wave had come early and boy was it hell in Georgia at the moment. Skip and Malarkey was excited too by the way they were talking about their pool floaties especially the pretzel-shaped one Skip had bought. Which was beyond tacky but here they were.

He finished the cheeseburger and went to finish off the onion rings. Skip and Malarkey was going to town on the fries. They planned to walk around town under the awnings and then get malts and ice cream. It was rare to get to spend so much time together as a trio so they always took advantages of the breaks and days off.

Downtown was not full of people and it was fun to walk through the shops and enjoy time with each other. The ice cream came sooner than planned with Malarkey complaining that he was so damn hot he felt like he was melting. The ginger was even getting a bit of a sunburn making his freckles stand out. Which Skip was so helpful to point out to him by poking him on his shoulder next to one of his collarbone tattoos.

Penkala told him to stop torturing the man and hurry up. The ice cream parlor would be crowded with people which made him uneasy. Skip reached out and tugged him closer to wrap his arm around his waist. That made him smile as Skip leaned into him as they approached the ice cream parlor. Malarkey walked next to them surprisingly not giving them crap for the PDA. 

They arrived at a crowded ice cream parlor and he tensed up when a few people bumped into him. Skip noticed it and he gave him a concerned look.

“Alex you alright? Do just want to go home and buy ice cream at the grocery store.” Skip asked him as he pulled him close. Malarkey looking worried next to Skip.

“If we need to leave we can all watch netflix and buy ice cream. It is not a big deal I do not want you to be uncomfortable.” Malarkey told them as they got to the front.

He let out a shaky sigh and moved closer to Skip, “ I am going to be fine for now. I just do not want the crowds to get any bigger. Then it might be uncomfortable.”

Both of them walked next to shielding him from the crowds. Since being kicked out of his parent’s house his anxiety had gotten worse. And this crowded place made it worse he moved closer to Skip wrapping an arm around him.

They all ended up changing their minds to get large Malts in various flavors including cookie dough and fudgy brownie. Skip was excited about the cookie dough one and Penkala laughed at him. He had discovered after they had moved in that Skip eats his weight in cookie dough ice cream every year and has a stash of it.

He did not have as much of a sweet tooth as his boyfriend but he would eat everything that had dark chocolate. He had recently discovered a love for mint chocolate chip ice cream which is the shake he had gotten. The trio went to an uncrowded table in the back of the shop setting down the shakes and waiting for Skip to go get the brownies he had been eying. Skip’s sweet tooth was legendary. Penkala was trying to get him to a bit healthy the only thing he had succeeded in was getting him to go walking and running with him.

“Is Skip really going to get all of us brownies? We are all going to descend into sugar comas. I swear I have eaten more sweets in the past few months since I met you two. Well, you are not too bad sweets wise.”

Penkala laughed at Malarkey’s questioning, “ Yes he is his sweet tooth gets out of hand sometimes. And this place has some amazing peanut butter cup brownies which are Skip’s favorite type of sweet treat.”

Malarkey raised an eyebrow in question, “ Those sound really good but I have never had those before. I remember Grant saying he was trying to get together a recipe for a brownie.”

“ It is a good thing we do not have them. Skip on a sugar high is an interesting sight. The first time I met him two years ago he was on a sugar and espresso kick which made him very clingy.” Penkala told him.

“ Wait a second so Skip basically attached himself to you and you became really good friends. Then you guys figured out you were into each other.  I was not even sure how you two met. I just knew Grant said y’all had clicked from the beginning.”

“Yeah it is not an interesting story. You would think it is but we just clicked right away.” Penkala said.

Skip came back and handed them all brownies. Malarkey and Penkala groaned at that Skip was going to kill them with the sweets which seemed to be a reoccurring thing.  He balanced out it by cooking all the healthy food he could. They finished the sweets and parted ways since Malarkey had research to do for a project.

Skip and him were going to spend the night eating pizza and watching movies. They did not get to have many date nights with work and college. So these few days off were great for quality time with his boyfriend. Those times with him were some of the happiest memories he had. 

He took a nap while the pizza was ordered and Skip having issues choosing a movie to watch. All the sugar had worn him out and he felt rested when he was woken up when he smelled breadsticks. God did he love those things thankfully his lovely boyfriend knew it too. He got the whole box and went to town on it.

Skip grabbed the box of meat lovers pizza and took half of it. Penkala grabbed half the supreme pizza to eat. They ended up deciding on watching pacific rim. It was their favorite movie to watch and they could quote most of the movie too. The last watch had led them to take a quiz on if they were drift compatible and they were so no surprise there.

He rested his head on Skip’s shoulder nuzzling his neck. Skip kissed the top of his head and ran his hand through Penkala’s curls. He let out a small sigh as Skip pulled him closer to him. They loved to cuddle during movies and tonight was no exception. The last month had been exhausting and this break was doing wonders for them.

He yawned and snuggled even further into Skip and the pile of blankets. Mid-movie the dogs had moved into the cuddle pile too. Frannie had curled up in his lap. Trigger was curled up near him and Draftee had draped himself across Skip. 

This moment was so cute he could not pass up a photo of the scene. It was so domestic and he loved it. He wanted to get a dog for them but he highly doubted they were ready for that. Skip was so happy with the large dog who wanted head pats and ear scratches. He loved little Frannie too and it was just calming to have her sleeping on him. She was his favorite dog in the whole world and he loved seeing her at work when Grant brought her in. And getting to dogsit the three dogs was amazing.

Skip caught he was taking a photo and pulled a silly face. He took the picture anyways and made sure the next one was a serious one. The silly one would go on Instagram like most of all the other ones. His boyfriend shook with laughter as Trigger also tried to sit on him which created a dog pile and him getting knocked over. He tried not to laugh too hard as to not knock Frannie off of his lap. He got an even more silly picture and it was amazingly bad.

The movie ended and they put on Guardians of the Galaxy after a break for snacks and drinks. Also the dogs were getting antsy and needing to go wander about outside. The pair decided to take them outside for a walk. Grant had told them to get the dogs to get any sleep they need to go walking. Which meant they had to brave the heat wave which meant they were limiting the amount of time the dogs were allowed out.

Skip took the big dogs and Alex took Frannie. There was a small park near the townhouse that worked well for the dogs. Skip ended up running around chasing the two bigger dogs as he threw a frisbee for them to catch. They wore themselves out and then they could go inside for food. The dogs crowded the kitchen for food as Skip tried to get past the rush of hungry dogs.

Drinks and snack were set out as the next movie started. The dogs settled down on the beds scattered around the living room. Skip had started to fall asleep while resting his head on Penkala’s shoulder. He combed Skip’s hair off his face as it flopped on his face. He rubbed his thumb over the dusting of freckles on the bridge of Skip’s nose. Skip wrinkled his nose and tried to lick his finger to annoy him.

After a bit of annoying each other, they went back to watching the movie. Penkala ended the movie and shook awake a sleeping Skip.

“Babe why did you wake me up. You were an excellent pillow.” Skip moaned as Penkala laughed at him.

“The beds more comfortable and you will thank me later for waking you up. The bed is more comfy and we can snuggle.” Penkala bribed him into getting up.

“ I will get up since you suggested cuddling.” Skip got up and raced Penkala to the bedroom.

Skip tackled him and wrapped himself around Penkala. He laughed and curled himself around his boyfriend. He was like a leech that would not let go of his boyfriend and Skip kissed his neck. And then launched a tickle attack tackling Penkala to the bed. They laughed and snuggled together.

The morning came early for him when got slobbered on by trigger and had Frannie walking all over his chest. He gently moved all the dogs and made as little noise as possible. The dogs followed him knowing there is food in the kitchen. Frannie insisted on being carried so he had his arms full of a small, sleepy dog. The terrier was a spoiled dog and he always indulged her. Especially when she was at the coffee shop.

The other two dogs crowded him out of the kitchen trying to get to their respective bowls. He laughed at the pair and tried to get the coffee made so Skip would be a functional human after waking up. He was half finished with a large bowl of frosted flakes when he heard a groan come from the hallway. That signaled his boyfriend was up and moving about. He saw Skip coming down the hallway with bedhead and still in his pajamas.

Skip reached him and gave him a kiss then went for the remaining coffee. Then rummaged for the chex cereal and sitting next to Penkala. They sat in companionable silence watch the sports recaps on tv. It was only 7 am and they had a little over an hour until they were meeting More and Malarkey.

The plans were set in the early morning since the heatwave would be a little less oppressive than in the afternoon. Skip volunteered to take the dogs out while Penkala got the stuff together for the park.

He got towels, lots of snacks, sunscreen and the umbrella that he had no clue where it came from. There were a few books thrown in since he probably not do much swimming. Skip was going to have the time of his life. The dogs were going to be a mess after this exercison.

Skip came back with the dogs and laughed at his face while he getting all the stuff he was bringing.

“ Sweetheart are you bringing enough stuff. And you found the umbrella I bought while drunk last year. Did you make sure to bring food.”

“Babe for the record I did bring enough stuff and food. And that’s not what I expected when I asked where the umbrella came from.” Penkala glared at him. 

Skip smiled at him, “ I am not even sure how I got it home either. Thank god you brought food the heat makes me hungry.”

“You are a mess but I love you so much.” Penkala told Skip as he reached over and hugged him.

“Love you too. I’m so happy we get to spend the day together.” Skip told him.

They got ready for the day and herded the hyper dogs into the car. More had texted them they were already there. Skip ended up driving since Penkala was dog wrangling as the trio had a lot of pent up energy. He loved the dogs but the mornings always left them with extra energy. Draftee he soon realized hated cars and mad pitiful noises as he snuggled into Penkala’s lap.

The park was surprisingly not crowded and the pair saw More with Malarkey and Maggie. They had packed as much as the pair had no surprise. Especially since they had Maggie with them she looked put out about being up early. Malarkey held her and made weird faces to keep her content. More stared at the pair fondly.

Skip and him wrangled the dogs out making sure the leashes were secure. Lord knows trigger would try to escape and Draftee would follow his lead. Those two were attached at the hip while Frannie was not likely to cause trouble. He got the bag and umbrella while Skip got the dogs.

The group headed to the spring fed pool and found a decent spot to put the umbrella. Penkala and the dogs sat under the umbrella. More joined him  with Maggie in his arms. It seems she did not want to go swimming just yet and more inclined to eat the tupperware of fruit.

He settled into a towel with his book and some oreos. Skip and Malarkey were trying to dunk each and make fools of themselves. More laughed when  Malarkey ended up getting dunked.

“How have you two been doing?” More asked him.

“ We are doing well and it’s nice to have the time off with him. I can tell you and Malarkey have been having fun” Penkala told him.

“ Yeah it has been amazing having more time with him. Maggie is equally excited to spend time with him” More said

He could tell More loved Malarkey so much and the fact he trusted Maggie with him was huge. Seeing his friend this happy meant the world and he knew Malarkey felt the same about him and Skip. 

The relaxing day was amazing and could not get any better. Skip was asleep leaning on him. Malarkey had fallen asleep with Maggie in his arms leaning on More. It was a peaceful day spent in brilliant way.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos appreciated. I will be posting the next installment by the next month. I hope you enjoy this story.


End file.
